New Issue of elements, the ScienceNewsletter from Evonik Industries, is out

When researchers at Evonik Industries run the printer, the paper that comes out doesn’t have letters but antennas. These antennas ensure, for example, that information stored in the silicon chip on a label is picked up by a scanner—and thereby helps find the right size jean in a stack or a specific suitcase at the airport. “RFID technology,” as it is called, is still quite expensive, and such tags are rare on the mass market. This will change, however, when printed electronics replace not only the antenna but all the electronic components of the RFID tag. How Evonik researchers plan to make this happen is described in elements 24, the latest issue of the ScienceNewsletter.

Recently, process engineers at the Evonik site in Hanau have been operating an unusual pilot reactor: the starting substances fly through the reactor at supersonic speeds of up to Mach 2.6 and form new particles in the process. Despite the fact that the developers of the supersonic reactor were entering uncharted territory and therefore had to test the limits of the materials themselves, they managed to complete construction in only two years. They explain how the reactor works in elements 24.

The newsletter is available to download on the Internet at www.evonik.com. elements is published four times a year in German and English, and reports on the current research activities of Evonik in the Chemicals Business Area.